HINGHAM LETTER: Pedestrians overlooked in traffic light debate

As drivers, Main Street homeowners and town officials hash out the Great Traffic Light Debate, one key constituency appears to go unnoticed: pedestrians. My dog Jackson and I could grow old, waiting to cross in the dreaded intersection at Main/South Pleasant/Cushing streets. Indeed, it is possible that Jackson has learned ...

As drivers, Main Street homeowners and town officials hash out the Great Traffic Light Debate, one key constituency appears to go unnoticed: pedestrians. My dog Jackson and I could grow old, waiting to cross in the dreaded intersection at Main/South Pleasant/Cushing streets. Indeed, it is possible that Jackson has learned to count as we keep tabs on the number of vehicles that fail to observe state law (not to mention common courtesy) by allowing us to use the well-marked crosswalk. The record to date is 54, and that included a town school bus, a police cruiser (no lights flashing or siren), innumerable SUVs piloted by drivers on cell phones and a prominent local elected official who tossed us a jaunty wave as Jackson and I dove backward in the crosswalk to avoid becoming road kill. When I called the official’s office, I was told that he/she had been in a terrible rush to get a child to school.

Jackson does not pay taxes, but I do. My current property taxes greatly exceed my salary at my first job out of graduate school. Safety is not just about vehicular damage. It’s about humans, too. It is unfortunate that pedestrians are all but overlooked in a discussion that amounts to resistance to change and reluctance to spend money.